Hi Tweeters,

I have a folder on my website with photos of four subspecies of Canada
Goose and three subspecies of Cackling Goose, with comments about field
marks. I have rushed this pretty fast, hoping this will be an aid for
people struggling with the identifications of some of these subspecies,
before the Christmas Bird Count season starts. In other words, there may
be a mistake or two and corrections to be made. If you notice anything
mistakes, please let me know so that I can correct them.

I spent several hours today visiting a private aviary north of Selah with a
guy who collects exotic waterfowl. He has an incredible number of ducks
and geese, including Barnacle, Emperor, Greater and Lesser White-fronted,
Red-breasted, four subspecies of Canada and three of Cackling, Trumpeter
and Whooper Swans and more ducks than I can list. It made photographing
geese much easier than chasing them around a field all day.

I found a flock of Western Canada Geese in an alfalfa field on the west
side of Yakima two weeks ago that had one Giant Canada Goose (B. c. maxima)
and one Cackling Cackling Goose (B. h. minima). There have been quite a
few Cackling Cackling Geese in the Yakima Valley this winter. While I was
photographing Dusky Canada Geese today, six Cackling Cackling Geese flew
into his largest pond. He said he had 16 there last week.

I hope you enjoy the photos. Once again, if you see any mistakes, please
let me know.

Denny Granstrand

* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* dgranstrand at charter.net *
* Denny's bird photos can be seen online at: *
http://granstrand.net/gallery/